[Closed] Materialism

Are you happy? I mean reaaallllyyyyy happy now?

Not in the true sense of the word, because even discounting materialism its not in my nature.   But I do have more moments of sitting around being content with what I have around me, not filled with unbearable mental whirlwinds of what to buy next.

Also, the value of what I already have went up, as above simple things like the coffee beans I enjoy and the ability, time spent mowing the lawn etc.  In my job specifically, it really helps me through the months when theres a basic salary coming in – knowing I don’t need additional commission on my paycheck to be content this month.

We loved the old kryton, can we have him back please 🤣🤩

the old kryton

...is much more complex than you think.  My CBT councillor describes(d) me as a Perfectionist, self critical materialist introvert.  That is, doing as best as I possible can to show other people how good (at everything) I can possibly be without exposing my flaws aka rolling myself in glitter.

I've actually learned that even being me is not always about me and I only have a part responsibility about how I'm perceived.   Vis a vis, outside  the remit of having good intelligent morals and manners and going about my business appropriately for those that I am responsible for,  how you all see me matters far less to me now.    I am without effort, me. Therefore I am, expensive Jo Malone or Christmas Brut, it matters not.

Anyway, someone else's turn, the internet just got bored.

I had always presumed that when I was older and had a bit more money that I would buy a really nice car. Turns out I'm happy with my 10 year old estate.

On the other hand I never expected a substantial part of my bank account to regularly making it's way to Tiso and the Bike Co-Op.

At least bikes are cheaper than cars.

Is it materialistic to covet the buxom lass in accounts?.

Does part of the new, improved  Kryton mean we have to suffer 'vis a vis' in every post?

Next material up at Woppit Towers...

Does part of the new, improved Kryton mean we have to suffer ‘vis a vis’ in every post?

One step at a time...

Good for you Kryters vis a vis trying not to give  a monkeys hump about what other people think about you.

Well done.

I personally will provide support and encouragement by gently ripping the piss out of you as often as I can thus providing you with more opportunities to not care about what I think.

I must admit I had a wobble when a good friend of mine came out with " Its a good feeling to be able to look out of your lounge window knowing that you own all the  land that  you can see"

12 acres of Sussex countryside, woods , lake, river , house , garage . , christ knows what he spent, million+ easy.

get your head out of your backside and listen to how you sound though , just a touch pompous

is housing materialism? probably not as   you have to live somewhere , that is unavoidablee

And as above, not being materialistic doesn’t mean not having nice things if you can afford it

I think it does.

Define 'nice things' for us.  What is a 'nice thing'?  £37 aftershave?  Used BMW?  Why not a used Toyota?

Doesn't matter whether it is a nice thing, it is the fact that the person puts too much importance on the fact they have it.

I personally will provide support and encouragement by gently ripping the piss out of you as often as I can thus providing you with more opportunities to not care about what I think.

Thanks, i appreciate the effort.  If you ever find yourself in need of a squirt of Joop! Id be happy to oblige

I think this is where my ex wife & I went wrong. Well, I went wrong.

She LOVED spending money, didn't matter what on as long as she was spending it. She used to come home with all kinds of shite. Anyway she nashed off with a rich (ex) mate of mine & ended up in a £1M house full of pretentious crap. (such as a massive porcelain dolphin in the hall)

He got sick of her & went 'bankrupt' then found another woman. My ex now lives in a rented terraced house with her slapper of a daughter, 2 grandkids & a dog. No idea what happened to the dolphin.

I feel we’ve both grown as people.

Good session 😉

lounge window

Frightfully non-U.

No idea what happened to the dolphin.

Perhaps she couldn't see the porpoise of it any more.

It is probably one of the reasons I like to buy little things for cycling almost constantly. A few quid here and a few quid there relieves me of the desire to spend a load all at once. For example, I don't really have any desire at all for a new bike, but I have desire for everything from new bar tape to a new groupset for one of them.

Things that don't excite me in the least (thank goodness) include:

1. Anything to do with technology (I have less than no interest in phones and such things)

2. Computers and gaming machines

3. TVs and sound devices

4. Cars

I say 'thank goodness', because if I was into any of them, I can imagine life would get very expensive very quickly.

Talking of forks, I’ve just ordered a set of HELMs as the McQueens have too much high speed chatter... and it was easier than losing 20kgs...

i have a matching fender Princeton Reverb amp and vintage ‘52 hot rod tele... (and a bunch of other guitars).

i have a Sherpa and 2 SolarisMAX‘s.

and, still, nothing fills the void within... 🤪

If I lived alone, which is never going to happen, I’d only want the following.

A mountain bike and every day bike.

Kindle Fire - For Netflix and books.

Couple of WiFi speakers for streaming music

A heavy bag in the living room

Other than clothes and other necessities that’d do me. As it stands I’m happily married with two great kids in a house packed full of shite 😀 I have my Kindle, a mountain bike and a WiFi speaker (no streaming subscription at the moment though) so all is good with the world.

I feel the same as you funkmasterp! Would have a lot less stuff if I was flying solo. I would have a couple of really really nice bikes though.

As others have alluded to above I don't see anything wrong with buying something nice/expensive (within reason) so long as it's used to it's fullest potential. I've got a few niceish bikes but they all get used, so no guilt about that in the slightest.

What i cannot stand, is having anything (even not very nice things) sat around doing nothing. It's just so wasteful (i see you Lego models)

Recently, unless I am sure about a large purchase I will look second hand. That way if I don't get on with it I can move it on and not loose much cash and / or rape the planet

Oh yeah and I have no want of a fast car, motorbike or any kind of flash watch/jewellery/clothes. Nowadays I think any of that makes you look a bit of a twunt really.

The one major item I’d like is a new car. Or at least a newer one maybe two or three years old. My Octavia is now around seventeen years old, I’ve had it for twelve, it’s developed a leak from somewhere that makes the offside footwells wet, and the offside front wing has been smashed in by a dimwit who didn’t understand roundabout etiquette. Nothing like a bloody BMW, which I do not like at all, something like a Mokka, Kia Sportage, Hyundai is35... A nice SUV, preferably a 4x4, that’s reasonably compact. I have specific reasons for a car like that, mainly because, at 64, I’m finding regular saloon cars increasingly difficult to get in and out of, even painful at times.

Oh, and I’d really like new shed.

We just pay it off our mortgage before we get tempted... mostly.

2003 plate van, 2012 Rocket but really great Finland ski trip this Winter and a month in Australia next Easter.

We stick to the mantra that experience's will never be forgotten but the thrill of a purchase is very short lived.

Our 7 yr old boy says that this years Farne Island trip where we got dive bombed and pecked is the best holiday ever 🙂

As a cure for materialism I’d recommend going through losing pretty much everything.

It doesn’t half reset your priorities.

Nowadays I have zero interest in ‘stuff’ and lots and lots of interest in ‘doing stuff’ instead. That’s money well spent. The rest is just... well... ‘stuff’... no matter how expensive and exquisitely well made

I have noticed my buying habits change as I grow older.

I notice that I'm looking much more at what the [insert name of thing] can do for me.  Will a cheap one perform the same as an expensive one?  If there is a difference in performance, what does that cost vs it's value to me.

In particular, I'm a lot more resistant to faddy technology - Gadgets are superseded so quickly that I've stopped trying to keep up for the sake of keeping up.

Generally I find that I make a small number of well researched purchases these days - I probably buy towards the upper end of the spec on things, but that's because a) I want the thing I'm buying to last a long time (eg: set of good stainless steel saucepans) or b) I want the higher spec to be able to realise the most benefit from the purchase (eg: just bought a top-end NAS to steam media around the house, because a lower spec one wouldn't do the job as well).

Some things that I want, but I'm resisting the urge to spend money on, are:

New TV.  Would like a newer, bigger one, but our current version is perfectly fine.

New iPhone.  Have got a 6s.... fancy one of the new ones, but really cant justify the significant outlay for no discernible befit.

Kitchen knives.  Have wanted a "nice" set for ages, but my current random assortment are perfectly serviceable.  Been dithering for years, but just can't bring myself to spend the money.

Does the fact that I still want these make me materialistic?  Probably

I notice that I’m looking much more at what the [insert name of thing] can do for me.  Will a cheap one perform the same as an expensive one?  If there is a difference in performance, what does that cost vs it’s value to me.

What I tend to do.  A label or a high cost don't attract me to it and even though I could afford the label/higher priced item I tend to get the cheaper options that does the same for me.  Even for my main interests of guitar and bikes.  This has definitely changed over the last 30 years but not sure if I have become less materialistic or more tight.

I have so much 'expensive' shit that I 'needed'

I've been much better about it lately though

Yeah I'm pretty bad with materialism. Wiggle used to be my vice, I'd have at least a box a week showing up, sometimes I'd have unopened Wiggle boxes in my garage that I forgot what was inside. After largely having given up cycling (for now...) it's mostly Amazon and Aldi special buys fueling my problem these days. I have boxes of washers, bolts, socket sets and cheap tools from Aldi in my garage 🙁

Fortunately I'm paid enough and don't have kids so I'm not in debt, I just wish I had enough disposable income to buy some decent toys rather than mostly just tat :p

sat around doing nothing. It’s just so wasteful (i see you Lego models)

if I just went around & bought everything I have seen & quite fancy having at this moment, I could probably max out my £4k credit card limit in about 20 mins.
Same with shops like Go Outdoors  etc.

It's different rules for outdoors equipment. The First Rule of Manhood states he who dies with the most kit wins. if you don't have at least 6 rucksacks of varying sizes and a complete range of tents and cooking stoves then you're not even trying.

I am a bit weird with all of this - most of the time I can't bear spending money (I shop almost exclusively at TK Maxx with the odd foray into Primark and Next) and can happily eat quite frugally ie, rather than buying chicken breast fillets I'll buy a whole chicken, cut the fillets off, oven cook the rest and use it for other dishes (risottos, sandwiches, chillies etc), the dog gets the inedible stuff and the carcass gets made into stock.

BUT... I occasionally 'need' something. Such as recently I spunked £250 on a cordless Dyson (which is very good TBF) or silly little tools/gadgets for the man cave (such as the recent Dymo label printer so I could organise my stuff better). I didn't need either of those things but I wanted them and got them but still wonder why as I could have saved the money.

knowing that you own all the  land that  you can see

I can say that too (if I stand rally close to the garden fence and look down)

In some ways I would love to go on a massive spending spree for all I desire. But then after that I would need to desire more expensive stuff and so on until you end up with a dolphin sculpture in the hallway and drowning in debt.

Not being materialistic is great

Being able to, and then actually buying lots of cool expensive stuff is great too

People that claim they don't buy stuff because they don't believe in materialism, but in reality are actually either too tight, or don't have the resources to do so, are annoying twunts though 🙂

<div class="bbp-reply-author">bikebouy
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I like material, silky underwear to be exact

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Yeah, but you can get that stuff for free while out "jogging" at night

I just see owning stuff as an encumbrance especially expensive stuff like fancy cars that you then worry about where you can park them incase they get damaged, it's a car for getting from a2b and if you can't leave it at b it's failed in its prime purpose.

Enjoy the money whilst you can. I visit people on a weekly basis who have lots of money - but not the health to enjoy it; so the money in the bank is worth nothing to them really.

Thats not to say it’s good to throw money away, just spoiling yourself is what makes life/work worthwhile.

Does spending £800 on four new discs and brake pads all round for my roadster count as materialistic?

They look shiny, shiny oh so shiny..

I hope the car stops as good as it will look.

👍😳

materialism (məˈtɪərɪəˌlɪzəm)
n
1. interest in and desire for money, possessions, etc, rather than spiritual or ethical values

I'd rather have a few quid to buy good food and wine, AV kit and other fripperies than dwell on spiritual and ethical bollocks.

Does that make me a bad egg?

After my Dad died a couple of months ago I thought sod it and bought a pair of the latest Revelations for my Stanton and now, coming up to Christmas, I can't think of a single thing I want.  I'm not trying to be holier than thou but day to day I just don't seem to need stuff and I'm glad for that.  However, if you have the money and want stuff that's not strictly necessary then good luck to you.

yeah i remember discovering in my late 20s, when i was properly skint, that not having any stuff does remove a lot of tiresome distractions.

no insurance because i had nothing worth insuring, i wasn't worried about being burgled because what were they even gonna take, no time spent in shops or looking at the latest gadget upgrades or planning holidays. There were a lot of upsides.

and now, coming up to Christmas, I can’t think of a single thing I want.

Socks and underpants. If it wasn’t for Christmas I’d have none. God bless you tiny Jesus and Santa for keeping me in underwear.

materialism (məˈtɪərɪəˌlɪzəm)
n
1. interest in and desire for money, possessions, etc, rather than spiritual or ethical values

most of the ‘luxury’ things i desire or buy are almost always hand made and designed to last and usually pondered and cogitated over before buying, in some ways the opposite of materialism/consumerism as the value lasts not just a frisson of excitement at purchase and the hopeful adoration of your peers. in some ways a Harris Tweed coat or a well made pair of Northampton shoes are more ethical than buying new stuff from Primani every season and throwing it away.

i like material things but they are for my appreciation not others. i could live in a shipping container with no material possessions but just don't want to.

it’s a car for getting from a2b and if you can’t leave it at b it’s failed in its prime purpose.

But A and B are not constants. I own a car that I am happy to leave in the car park at the train station all day every day. I wouldn't be happy leaving it in an inner city street overnight. Has my car failed in its purpose?

Is a good bike a spiritual or material thing?

I mean, biking can be very spiritual.  But whilst you don't need an £8k bike, the likes of us might think we need at least £800-£1k bike to be reliable and not intrude into the ride experience with crapness.  That's still a fair chunk of money.

What about a musical instrument?  Few would argue that music can be profound and transcendental, but a £60 guitar might not get you there.  I have an £800 amp (bought s/h for far less) and I could get lost in the sound of a single chord played through it.  That's about all I can do with it mind.

most of the ‘luxury’ things i desire or buy are almost always hand made and designed to last and usually pondered and cogitated over before buying, in some ways the opposite of materialism/consumerism as the value lasts not just a frisson of excitement at purchase and the hopeful adoration of your peers.

Disagree that it's the opposite.  Materialism isn't wanting to impress others with something.  It's considering a material item to be valuable simply because of what it is.

i like material things but they are for my appreciation

I think that's the definition of materialism.

I’d love a shiny new expensive laptop. But I don’t need one, I have a nice tablet. Or a PS4. Or some nice audio stuff.

I won’t buy any of them tho, of course.

Sounds like theivery is the hobby for you.